Western Mustangs ride down demons

It was a year short a day that the Western Mustangs had to live with hearing about their Yates Cup loss to the Laurier Golden Hawks last year.

They had to endure the questions about how they could blow a 21-point lead in eight minutes and ultimately lose 43-40 on a last-second field goal.

They had to do some soul-searching about what kind of changes they needed to make to avoid that type of thing from happening again and, more importantly, the players returning needed to regain whatever confidence they lost in their own ability to win the big game.

So it was for 364 days. Not even their regular-season win at Laurier against the Hawks this year did much to soothe the scars they still carried from that fateful November 12 day.

They were publicly happy when the Golden Hawks made it to this year’s Yates Cup. The Mustangs could hardly wait for Saturday’s game to be played.

The Mustangs’ year of frustration was unleashed in a 60-minute whirlwind of destruction. By the time the Mustangs had defeated the Hawks 75-32 to win their 31st Yates Cup, there was not much left of the opponent that had started the circle of revenge a year ago.

Here’s the numbers first. Mustangs’ head coach Greg Marshall won his 19th Yates Cup as a player, assistant coach and head coach. Since becoming the head coach at Western in 2007, he’s been in nine Yates Cup games, winning five.

The Mustangs will play either the Acadia Axemen or St. Mary’s Huskies in the Uteck Bowl. The two teams will play Tuesday after a judge ruled Sunday the Loney Bowl had to be played.

Atlantic University Athletics, the governing body of university athletics in the Maritimes, ruled the game would not be played because of St. Mary’s use of an ineligible player. The AUS was going to allow Acadia to play the Mustangs.

The Hawks were able to start their No. 1 quarterback, Michael Knevel, back from a concussion. In truth, they could have started anyone they wanted, but the Mustang defence was not going to be beaten. They forced Knevel to throw the ball 49 times and while he did manage 432 yards, 138 of it was in the first quarter when the game was like a wild west shootout and another 100 was in the fourth, when the game was out of reach.

The Mustangs defence held the Hawks to 88 yards rushing. The Mustangs weren’t able to start No. 1 rusher Alex Taylor, out with a knee injury. That didn’t matter either. Back-up Cedric Joseph was his own destructive force. He ran for 250 yards and three touchdowns, his seventh touchdown in the playoffs. He was yanked late in the third. It was an epic performance.

Joseph ran strong and gave it up for his offensive line, as he should. With the size of holes his line was creating, the fat man sitting in the stands could have had 100 running with his boots on.

One can’t leave Saturday without getting an idea of what it was like for the Mustangs heading into the game.

“(The players) had to live a whole year hearing about Laurier,” Marshall said. “For a whole year now I don’t have to hear about Laurier. I was asked if I was surprised we hung 75 on Laurier? No, I wasn’t surprised. “We hung 66 on Guelph and Guelph’s a really good team; maybe better than (Laurier.)”

Quarterback Chris Merchant who had yet another stellar game didn’t mince words either.

“Everybody talked about it. Last year was a fluke and I think we showed it today,” he said. “I told people if we play that game 100 times we win it 99 times. Credit to them, they are a great team but we’re a better team. It showed on the scoreboard. Credit to all the coaches and the players, we’re a good team and we’re coming for the actual trophy (the Vanier Cup) in two weeks.”

It spurred the Mustangs to a 10-0 record and a Uteck Bowl appearance next week in Nova Scotia.

The win is important going forward. It is a confident group of players heading to the Maritimes. While they all might have said they believed in themselves, there’s nothing like this kind of performance to instill that belief in their very being. That’s the type of thing that wins championships.

Players win championships but there should be credit to go around. Marshall decided he needed to make some changes after last year’s game.

He brought in offensive coordinator Steve Snyder and let him call the plays. Snyder is the quiet guy who has put in an offence that may not be full of gadgets and tricks but plays to the players’ strengths. The final half of the season has brought consistency and execution and that’s on Snyder. The Londoner gets to go back to the east coast where he coached before coming to London.

There isn’t much to say about Paul Gleason’s defence. He’s brought together a group that’s played much better than far more star-studded units. The defence like the offence is able to adjust to what’s needed and that too is on Gleason.

This Mustang team deserves the success they’ve found. They deserve a crack at a Vanier Cup.

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